1.0 What is inside the
Game Boy

The GameBoyTM
is a portable device with simple operation. The user interface
comprises four buttons, a joypad, integrated four color gray scale
screen and a speaker. Stereo sound is available from the headphone
jack. The internal hardware includes a Z80 processor derivative
together with system RAM and ROM.These
features make the GameBoyTM ideal for menu
controlled applications. Programming a a home telephone system for
example would be much easier using the GameBoyTM
LCD and joypad than using the telephone pad.

1.1
Technical Details

The following table
provides more detailed technical information on the hardware inside
the GameBoyTM

Further information can
be found in "gbspec.txt. Titled
"Everything You Always Wanted To
Know AboutGameBoyTM
but were afraid to ask. It is
one of the best sources of information for both hardware and software
including useful algorithims and common problems/pitfalls.

Figure 1: General hardware schematic

Figure 1 shows a schematic of the GameBoyTM
internal hardware. Starting from the left, there are
the buttons and joypad, the serial port, an oscillator, the speakers,
the CPU and the main memory. On the lower side the connector to the
cartridge is shown. For further information on the GameBoyTM
internal hardware and logic use
this schematic (Figure
2) drawn by Jeff
Frohwein.